Candidate justified in reneging? You decide

The two men running for San Joaquin County sheriff made an extraordinary promise at a March 25th forum.

Michael Fitzgerald

The two men running for San Joaquin County sheriff made an extraordinary promise at a March 25th forum.

Both were asked, "In the interest of openness and transparency, would you be willing to sign a waiver to open your personnel file?"

Both Sheriff Steve Moore and challenger Sgt. Pat Withrow said yes. This is highly unusual. Personnel files are confidential. The files of law enforcement officers are doubly so, thanks to the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights.

But they promised.

Then Withrow reneged.

Withrow did sit down with a reporter and share some of his personnel file's contents. But he declined to show her everything.

Withrow explained his about-face.

Unlike most employees, Sheriff Moore controls the contents of his own personnel file, Withrow said. He can remove damaging information.

Were both men to open their files, the whole truth would emerge from Withrow's file, but not Moore's, Withrow said.

Apprising him of this unfair situation only after his pledge, Withrow's campaign advisers urged him to modify his position.

Political maneuvering followed. Withrow made opening his file contingent on certain actions by Moore.

"We asked Sheriff Moore to sign a release that would not only open his file but add some of the other things that should be in his file," Withrow said.

"I'm just trying to level the playing field," he added.

An example of things that should be in Moore's file is any disciplinary action related to the case of Deputy Kim Poeun, said Steve Walker.

A Withrow campaign staffer, Walker refers to a 2011 dispute between Deputy Kim Poeun and Moore.

When Poeun could not produce a driver's license, Moore asked for his car keys and held them for part of a day.

Alleging Moore violated his civil rights, and his rights as a law enforcement official, Poeun sued Moore in federal court in 2012.

A judge dismissed the case.

As for hiding things, Moore said the undersheriff controls personnel files, not he. "When things happen I make sure I get subject to the same process," Moore said.

The sheriff has no special authority to change his file, said Ted Cwiek, county director of human resources.

But Moore has authority over the undersheriff, Withrow countered.

Moore did say he removed from his file a letter of reprimand he received after causing a minor noninjury vehicle accident several years ago when he backed into a delivery van.

County policy allows all employees to do that after two years, if the offense is not repeated.

What might Withrow's file contain? Lathrop-gate, for one.

That is the informal name for a 2007-08 incident in which the vacation hours of deputies in the Lathrop division were falsified or misrecorded on Withrow's watch.

Withrow was sergeant in the Lathrop division when numerous deputies took days off without, however, losing any days from their vacation bank.

The possible fraud became an Internal Affairs investigation. The story never became public - until election time.

Withrow said the vacation mistakes were the result of the SO's Byzantine vacation form process, a clerical error.

He said neither he nor anyone else in the Lathrop division deliberately falsified records.

"And I think it is clear the department didn't think so, either, or they would have taken it further."

Withrow said he was disciplined with one unpaid day off. He characterized this discipline as the only blemish on his record and said it was political payback from Moore for supporting Moore's rival in an earlier election.

What to make of Lathrop-gate?

Not enough is known about it to judge. Citing personnel confidentiality laws, Kristin M. Hegge, county chief deputy counsel, refused to release records showing how many days off were involved or how many deputies or at what cost to taxpayers.

Without getting into legal specifics, it can be said that disclosure of Lathrop-gate is in the public interest because it casts light on whether a candidate for the county's top law enforcement officer is telling the truth.

Whether Withrow was justified in breaking his promise voters can decide.

Contact columnist Michael Fitzgerald at (209) 546-8270 or michaelf@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/fitzgeraldblog and on Twitter @Stocktonopolis.